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Faces in the Crowd: Library Programs for Adults

I'd like to chat about programs for adults. Don't worry, I'm still a children's librarian! But I know it can be really hard to find great programs geared at an adult audience, so I thought I'd post some of our more successful programs for grown-ups. Most of these do not require much staff time beyond marketing efforts and picking up supplies. I didn't plan or present any of these, but if you have additional questions I will try and get answers for you.

Holiday Programs

Wreath-Making Class

One of our staff members taught patrons (class size limited to around 10) how to make Christmas wreaths. Cost was about $10 per person, and another $2ish if they wanted to make a bow, as well. I believe the most cost-effective way to obtain the greenery was to buy 3 full Christmas trees. But this is Michigan and Christmas trees are everywhere. I was shocked the first time I heard of anyone paying more than $20 for a tree!

Cookie Exchange
Participants register ahead of time and give a copy of their recipe to the library. The librarian makes copies of each recipe for everyone. On the day of the program, they bring a dozen cookies in and try each others. We have done these with winter and autumn themes.

Chocolate-Making

The local chocolate shop presented on techniques, history, etc. of chocolate-making around Valentine's Day.

Programs for Any Time of the Year

Antique Appraisals

This was an awesome program! Mike Gaylord, of the antiques radio show Everything Classic, came and gave free antique appraisals. He was a great sport and here all day. I have no idea what it cost to get him here, but one of the car dealers in town sponsored it. He broadcast the show from their dealership and then came straight to the library for our program.

Ghost Hunters

A local paranormal group talked about some of their hunts. I wondered if we might get complaints about this, but we didn't. A neighboring system had someone teaching tarot cards in a branch and there was at least one letter to the editor of the local newspaper about that.

History of Quilts

A staff member and quilter presented on different techniques and styles of quilts. If I recall correctly, local quilts from the historical society were displayed as well.

What programs for adults have been successful at your library. Please chime in and leave a comment. (If you email me, I'm the only one who will see it!)

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One of our most successful adult programs was a couponing program, done by a local patron who was super into it. It turned into a coupon club for awhile where people would meet up to swap coupons and share money-saving tips, etc. We also do an annual soup cookoff in the winter time that's been very popular. Local music groups usually bring in a crowd, too.

I agree with Abby. We had a local coupon blogger come in and ended up about 200 people. We had to move it to a church auditorium down the street. ( I didn't realize she was accepting sign-ups on her website-oops!)

I like to do a lot of nursery rhymes with the parachute for a few reasons:Parents/kids are more likely to participate in activities where the content is already familiarI already know them so I don't have to learn a whole bunch of material at once (just being honest here)Easy for the families to replicate this activities at home with whatever props they might have. If they (or you!) don't have a parachute, a bed sheet or blanket can be substituted easily. Even a beach towel would work for one parent and one child to play together. This is my mean reason and I tried to hammer this in at all three programs I did the past two weeks! Parachute …

One of my favorite things to do in my library is create displays. I thought it might be helpful if I shared the calendar that I drew up to make sure I don't miss any of the "must-do" displays. It is so helpful if you can take people over to a seasonal display versus trying to look up in the catalog or find Easter books or whatever. I hope this helps any new librarians who might be overwhelmed by the process of marketing your collection!

As a general rule, I tend to keep displays up for about 3-4 weeks or if I run out of books all together. One tip I'd recommend if you have the space for multiple displays is to change one display in each space every week and rotate around the youth department like that. For example, one week you put up a new picture books display, then nonfiction, then YA/teen, etc. Don't forget to raid your CD and DVD collections for a multi-category display.

Here's one of my favorite parachute activities! I actually mentioned it a few months ago when talking about my summer parachute playtime but it's become a storytime staple since. We've been doing this here at my 2 and 3 year old storytimes and it's a great activity that I thought deserved its own post. I learned the song "Sleeping Bunnies" from Mary and I had the idea to adapt it to a parachute activity.

Here are the words:Sleeping BunniesSee the little bunnies sleeping til it's nearly noon. Come and let us gently wake them with a merry tune. Oh, how are still. Are they ill? Wake up soon. (Here I yell "WAKE UP BUNNIES!" and the kids shake the parachute.)